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At TwoRags.com, we're committed to providing accurate information to the
poker community. If you see entries or information that you believe to be in
error, please email us.
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APPT Final Sydney Trip Report part 1, Casino Shitayle
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By Bond18
on 12/07/2025
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read Bond18's complete blog
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t takes only an hour flight to get from Melbourne to Sydney, a welcome break from spending double digit hours on a plane just to get to a series of tournaments. I’ve never been outside the airport in Sydney before, and since they've never had any important tournaments and I don’t know anyone there there’s never been a reason. Besides, people always told me the Star City was, as Doctor Pauly put it “the worst card room in the world.” Surely they must be exaggerating?
The building and location for Star City in Sydney is actually quite nice just along an inlet of water with a great view of the entire city skyline, and the interior feels a lot like the Palms in Las Vegas. Looks can be deceiving. My girlfriend is soon seated in the $120 ladies event and I’ve already bought in for tomorrows $750 event, so I find Van Marcus and we get something to eat. We get into an argument over a hypothetical hand: If it’s the first hand of the APPT final main event, it folds to the SB who shoves for 20k and turns AKo face up and you hold QQ, should/would you call. I tell him it is very clearly a call. He thinks very much otherwise. He think so much otherwise that he wants to bet on it by posting the hand in HSMTT on 2+2, and I’m willing to bet my bankroll and internal organs on this one. Unfortunately he only goes for $50, but hey, free dinner I guess.
After dinner we go down to the main poker desk and ask about the satellite to the main event that night. They say they’re only doing single table satellites at $675 buy in so we put our names down for the next one and leave a number. We go up to Vans room, play $75/150 heads up Hi-Lo Omaha on his computer and he lets me buy half his action, despite my knowing absolutely zero about Omaha, resulting in Van being nice and basically handing me $500 when he takes the guy for $1000 while i watch and ask questions. We head back downstairs and find the satellite still hasn’t started. We decide to hit the table games.
I never thought you could possibly take the fun out of gambling. So ****ing wrong. Somehow, Star city has accomplished the impossible to the point I can’t believe anyone is there. First we go to the craps table but they refuse to let us back our pass line bets up at full odds. Fine, **** you, we’ll go play baccarat. We sit down at the table and announce “Let’s squeeze some cards!”
The dealer glances up from the shoe “No squeezing here sir, only upstairs.”
”What?! What fun is this game if I can’t destroy things in the process? Surely you’re kidding.”
”No sir, only upstairs.”
“You win this time, Star City.”
We get up from the table and take a bit over to roulette, which of course has a double zero. We lose there, then head over to the wheel of fortune, which upon examining the odds is clearly the wheel of decimation. Still, we manage to hit a 23 to 1 shot on our third try and head over to blackjack. All the tables are full except Pontoon blackjack, which is a massive scam involving them taking all the 10’s out of the deck. When we finally find a free blackjack table they have an automatic shuffling machine, preventing any possibility of gaining a ‘natural advantage’. We play anyway and lose. The waitress comes over with a tray of milkshakes which we’re free to have. The milkshakes are watery and suck in general. We head back to the poker desk and ask about our satellite.
“Uhhh yea, the satellite just started. Turns out it was a multi table.”
“So it’s too late to buy in?”
”Yea, they’re in their second level. Sorry about that.”
DAMN YOU STAR CITY! I hang around the bar for a little bit and Bondgirl finds me after busting out of the tournament. Apparently she restole all in on Isabelle Mercier with 87s and ran into her jacks, I am so proud. We take a seat with some friends of hers and the guy across the table looks me in the eye and says
“Hey mate, remember me?”
The table turns their attention to me and I’m blanking. I have absolutely no idea who this guy is. I decide to play it safe
“Uhh, was I drunk when we met?”
”Nope, you were very sober... There’s a story behind it.”
****! That was my only play. I sit there awkwardly a moment longer shaking my head in confusion. His girlfriend Donna (she had a shirt with her name on it, makes things so much easier) turns to him
“Is it a PG story?”
”Nowhere close.”
“Oh come on, then I know I was drunk.”
“Nope.”
“Gimme a hint.”
“We met at the Pokernews Cup, you wrote about me.”
“Cockstud! Of course, what’s up man?”
Pretty hard to remember a guys face when the most memorable thing about him is his thrice pierced wang. He apparently saw the blog entry and was quite happy someone finally wrote about his piercing.
We get some supper with cockstud, his Donna and our friend Joel, then head to sleep in preparation of waking up for the $750 event at 12:30.
After grabbing some breakfast we head down to the poker room. The players aren’t given a seat card, you have to find your name on a list, which I’ve never seen before in a tournament. I make my way over to table 7 seat 2 and count out the 5000 chips I’ve been given. We’re starting at 25/50 blinds with 40 minute levels.
For the entirety of the first level I do next to nothing. Players on the table keep opening 6X and I’ve got no hands to stop them with. The second level of 50/100 I raise a couple times in position and take down small pots. Nothing interesting happens until the 100/200 level where I find myself with 6000:
I’m UTG with 66 and the table’s 8 handed. UTG+1 is an older guy who plays quite bad and straight forward. He min raises his hands instead of slow playing them and accumulated a lot of chips early by flopping the nuts then spewed them all back by being a total failure at super obvious hand reading. Villain has about ~8000.
Preflop: I raise to 600, UTG+1 calls, 6 folds.
Flop: J 9 3 rainbow
I bete 800, UTG+1 calls.
Turn: As, putting a flush draw out
I think about my bet and fire 1200, since I don’t think he’ll see through my bet size and will worry more about the card. UTG+1 looks very disturbed by the card, literally stands up out of his seat and throws the 1200 in like he’s throwing it in a trash can.
River: 2c
I shove, villain insta folds TT face up.
Things stay quiet for the rest of 100/200 (I raise JJ over 2 limpers but both fold) and the blinds move up to 150/300. Then things start rolling. UTG raises to 800, I flat AA UTG+1 and he check folds a Q62 two heart flop. Next hand I get QQ UTG and raise to 800, get cold called, and bet a 6AK flop and get a fold. After that things go quiet for some time. There’s a young player on my right who’s extremely aggressive and pounds on the bad player on my left. At one point the aggro young player on my right raises to 800 on the button, I make it 2300 with Q9s in the SB, the BB folds and the button insta shoves. I had thought we had roughly equal stacks of about 10,000 starting the hand, but I find out after he counts his chips that I’d confused his reds with his purples and he has only 6500. God damn it, having miscounted his stack turns out to be a serious mistake as I’ve left myself with 2 to 1 for a serious chunk of my stack with a hand that’s probably very close to an exact 2 to 1 vs his range. I decide given my extremely tight image he’s probably not shoving that wide and folding to him.
I stay pretty straight forward for a while with my stack sunk to around 25 BB’s. The next hand I play goes as follows:
BB has never shown up. SB often open limps and plays very straight forward, preferring to call always unless he has the nuts. I hold Ad6d on the HJ.
Preflop: Folds to me, I raise to 750, folds to SB, SB thinks it over and calls.
Flop: Ah Qs Th
BB checks. I’m trying to think what to do here. He’s got about 4500 left in his stack, but I don’t think he’s ever shoving on a draw here or bluffing. I think given how coordinated it is against a straight forward player I need to bet. I launch out 1000, the BB exclaims “ALL IN!” as soon as my chips hit the felt. I roll my eyes and fold.
A bit after that blinds go up to 200/400. It folds to me on the button with KdQd and raise to 1000, the SB folds and the BB moves all in for 1400 more. I call and he shows AdQc. The board comes Q high and I sink to around 11 BB’s.
I spend some time shoving at the 200/400 without getting called before blinds move up to 300/600. UTG+1 I find 88 with 5500 chips and move in. It folds to the CO who moves in over the top, and the rest fold. He flips up JJ, and when the board blanks out my day is over.
Tomorrow is the $1100 PLO event which I won’t play, so I plan on hitting the beach with a cigar and getting a sun tan. After that is the semi shoot out, the 6 max, and the main event, so there’s still plenty of poker to be had. Today also marked my cross over into six figure make up with Timex, so I guess I’d better win something soon. One of these days…
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